Pune's Mohammedwadi residents suffer due to poor planning

Located in the south-eastern fringe of Pune, next to Undri, the Mohammedwadi panel, including Nyati Estate, has developed at a rapid pace over the last decade. However, residents continue to suffer due to poor planning by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and half-hearted implementation of infrastructure projects.

Poor condition of the roads, lack of bus transportation and the presence of a polluting brick kiln in Mohammedwadi, next to the Delhi Public School (DPS), are the major concerns of this area.

According to Nyati County Residents Forum (mohalla committee) member, Capt Deepak Sethi, topping the list of road issues is the incomplete road widening and culvert construction on the stretch between Palace Orchard Co-op Housing Society Ltd and Undri junction.

The widening, which began in 2008, is incomplete till date. In response to Sethi’s applications under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the PMC claims that the allotted funds are over.

Additionally, the stretch has been further rendered dangerous due to the incomplete construction of a culvert (started in April 2011) on a nala flowing across the road. The culvert was to be completed in June, but will now be delayed by at least six months if not more.

Residents are also severely inconvenienced due to water logging during the monsoon on the road that connects Mohammedwadi to NIBM. This is because of the two major depressions on this 2.5 km stretch and lack of storm-water drains.

The residents’ forum wants the PMC to take over a road near DPS, as it leads to a plot reserved by the civic body for a garden. Citizen-activists from the area are apprehensive about the status of the road and fear that it could end up being treated as private property.
“We want the PMC to take over the road under the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM) and develop it for public good,” said Sethi.

The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited’s (PMPML) poor bus service in Mohammedwadi is the other serious concern of the residents. Launched with much fanfare in August 2009, after persistent efforts by the residents’ forum, the Nyati County Mohalla Committee (NCMC), the bus service in Mohammedwadi area has over the past two years failed to address to the public transportation grievances of the residents.

The frequency of one bus every 1 hour 45 minutes is causing residents grave inconvenience and even this timetable is also not being followed.

The almost 3-km stretch from NIBM to Nyati County is impossible to traverse on foot and many senior citizens, women, children and college students are seen waiting for hours on makeshift bus stops in the hot sun or rain. Autorickshaws charge exorbitantly and many residents are forced to stop cars on the stretch to hitch a ride.

Rashmi Sheikh, a student, who also gives tuitions in Runwal Diamond, is compelled to hitch a ride from NIBM junction. “On the way back, I again have to keep waiting till a bus comes or I find a woman driver in a car who can give me a ride,” she said. Similarly, two elderly women hitching a ride from Palace Orchard Co-op Housing Society Ltd also lamented the lack of public transportation.

Another serious concern of the area is the polluting brick kiln in operation in Mohammedwadi, next to DPS. Although the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) ordered its closure in April 2009, since then the matter has ping-ponged with every major authority, including the district collector’s office, MPCB and the PMC passing the buck to one another.

The PMC was pushed to take action when Capt Sethi was able to convince PMC zonal commissioner (IV) Madhukant Garad in May 2011 that the kiln was an illegal unit, after which the owner of the kiln, Bhagwan Ghule, submitted an affidavit at the Hadapsar ward office promising to shut the polluting unit by 25 May 2011.

Ghule failed to honour the affidavit as the kiln continued to operate in June 2011, which was brought to the notice of Garad. However, any legal action on Ghule by the PMC for dishonouring the affidavit is still awaited.